Admit it. Even if someone threatened you, you could not use the word "kuchen" in a sentence. The spell checker on some computers doesn't recognize it.

That word took out the third-place finisher Saturday in the 58th annual Journal Gazette Allen County Spelling Bee presented by Touchstone Energy and IPFW.

Cesar Chantaca, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Most Precious Blood School who was last year's county bee champion, was eliminated by the German word "kuchen."

In case you don't know – admit it, you probably don't know – "kuchen" describes any of several different varieties of coffee cake. (OK, so given Allen County's strong German heritage, maybe you did know.)

This you probably also don't know: Theodora Eddison, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Suburban Bethlehem Lutheran School, will be representing Allen County at the regional spelling bee next month. She won in the 29th round, correctly spelling "recalcitrant."

The second-place finisher, Kyla Macaraig, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Concordia Lutheran Lower School, was tripped up by "fuselage" in the 28th round.

Inside the cavernous Auer Auditorium at the Rhinehart Music Center on the IPFW campus, the families of the 63 spellers spread out, silently watching as their youngsters stood, often with hands in pockets before the microphone.

It took 238 words to weed out a winner.

On the way to crowning Eddison as the champion, the fourth- through eighth-graders tackled such words as cheka (secret police of the former Soviet Union), quisling (a traitorous national who aids invaders), and waterzooi (a stew thickened with cream and egg yolks).

With each misspelling, and the gentle ding of a small bell, the kids slowly made their way offstage and walked through the hall to the back door of the auditorium. There, they waited until the round was finished, a little human logjam of disappointment.

One speller was pleased to draw "geranium" because she had one of those once. Another whispered "yes" when he was given his word, only to misspell it.

They asked for alternate pronunciations, had the word used in a sentence and sometimes repeated the word incorrectly – setting up an almost certain failure.

As Eddison worked her way through the last few rounds, she seemed almost surprised with the words she received, as if they may have seemed surprisingly easy.

After the bee, she stood with her mom, dad and little sister in the aisle. They were all beaming.

She said she spent about four hours studying the word list. Her favorite subject in school isn't English. It's art.

Eddison's mother, Ma Myat, said she helped her study and was so proud of her.

Last year, Eddison placed third in a spelling bee in Arkansas before the family moved back to Fort Wayne.

She will face the best spellers from 15 counties in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio on March 10, again at IPFW. The winner of the regional bee will go to the national spelling bee in Washington, D.C.

Here's another word that the finalists were able to spell correctly: "punctilio."

Do you think you could use that one in a sentence?

rgreen@jg.net